The record-holder for freshman single-game rushing is leaving West Virginia at the end of the semester, and he knows what people are thinking: The Mountaineers are way over the scholarship limit and the running back room is crowded. The coaching staff probably forced him out to create space for someone else.

There are a few problems with that, Garrison said. For starters, he’s grateful for the opportunity he got at WVU, the only Division I school that offered him a scholarship, and while things could have gone better and he believes  he deserved to play more, he said he doesn’t hate his coaches or have anything against the staff.

He’s also been thinking about this for a while. A long while.

“I knew before the bowl game I was going to do it,” said Garrison, who carried the ball just 20 times last season and not at all in the final three games. “(Tuesday) was the day I finally decided I wanted everyone to know about it.

“It’s something I’ve been thinking about since basically my sophomore year, but I always told myself to fight through it. Things never really went how I thought they would, and through time I started to think it was time for me to make my own decisions and do what’s best for me.”

So good for him. He’s easy to root for because he’s had a lot to get down about during his life, from Hurricane Katrina to the ACL injury to having to play the following season and not getting to play the year after that one. Sure he wanted to do more and play more here, but he’s not going out shooting.

You’d probably remember him for the graceful exit or the 291 yards against Bowling Green, if not for this …

“If I don’t end up at another school, hopefully Vince McMahon saw that and the WWE picks me up,” he said.

He’s going to end up at another school, and seeing him get the ball somewhere like Houston or Texas State wouldn’t be a surprise at all. But it’s for one year, and Garrison, who is already interning within the sports marketing department at WVU, has career ambitions he thinks he’ll get into sooner rather than later.

But in the recesses of his mind remains a dream.

“To be honest with you, when I was younger, I always told myself I wanted to be a wrestler,” he said. “After doing those videos and after just sitting there and watching myself perform and doing all those things, I was like, ‘Damn, I think I could probably really do this and be good at it.’ Maybe I’ll get a little bit more serious about it, because it’s something I’ve thought about since I was a kid.”

The beauty of that athletic endeavor? Being 5-foot-8 and 185 pounds isn’t a problem in the squared circle like it is on the gridiron.

“Luchadore,” he said. “I just have to put a mask on and do a Rey Mysterio thing.”.